Connectors with which the present invention can be used and their adjustment techniques are described in U.S. application Ser. No. 366,707 (French application No. 82 08464) and U.S. application Ser. No. 595,443 (French application No. 83 05422) of Applicant's Assignee. The disclosures of U.S. Ser. Nos. 366,707 and 595,443 are incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Ser. No. 366,707 discloses an optical fiber connector using, as mechanical locking means, a plurality of balls force-fitted in the radial holes of the exterior or ferrule body and which press against the interior tubular element in which an optical fiber is placed.
U.S. application Ser. No. 595,443 discloses a mechanical locking means, in which deformable elements engaged in the radial holes of the exterior body, and which are preferably made of a soft metal, are compressed and deformed by means of punches placed in the radial holes so as to fill the spaced in the region of the holes between the periphery of the interior element and the facing interior wall of the exterior body.
As disclosed in the above-mentioned patent applications, once the interior element is mechanically locked in the exterior body, mechanical action by means of maneuvering or adjusting means, such as punches, is applied to the balls or the metal core formed by crushing the deformable elements, causing microdisplacements by flexion of the interior element with respect to the exterior body. This results in adjustment of the radial position of the end of an optical fiber placed in the interior element, relative to the axis of the exterior body.
Although they provide overall satisfaction, the processes of mechanical locking described in the prior applications nevertheless have the disadvantage that due to the pressing of the balls in the radial holes of the exterior body, or elasticity of the metal of the deformable core, a slight instability in practice, however, less than 2 .mu.m, occasionally appears after adjustment.
Moreover, as a result of the adjustment, the angle of inclination of the fiber relative to the connector axis varies with the distance of the end face of the fiber to the surface of the ferrule body from which the fiber held in the interior element extends. This surface, which is preferably conical, coacts, as is described in the prior applications, with a spherical surface of an abutment body for aligning the fibers to be connected.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,338 also describes a process for radial positioning of an optical fiber contained in an interior element in a connector body by means of radial adjustment screws. An elastic sheath is interposed between the connector body and a sleeve surrounding the interior element. The clearance between the interior element and the sleeve and the elasticity of the sheath connecting the sleeve to the exterior body results in a very high imprecision of the radial positioning of the fiber and very great instability during adjustment.